Lots of gold on the line in this one.
Canelo Alvarez, widely considered as among boxing’s very best, will be returning to action on October 1 against Jermell Charlo, one of the sport’s more talented fighters, in what will be an historic clash of champions.
The Alvarez-Charlo showdown will make history as being the first-ever meeting of undisputed champions in the four-belt era, with the Mexican champion holding the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF belts at super middleweight and Charlo owning the same four belts at junior middleweight.
This historic meeting, however, will be contested at 168 pounds, according to ESPN. This means Alvarez’s straps will be up for grabs in what would be the sixth high-profile bout this year after Ryan Garcia versus Gervonta Davis in April, Devin Haney versus Vasily Lomachenko in May, Josh Taylor versus Teofimo Lopez in June, Naoya Inoue versus Stephen Fulton in July, and Errol Spence versus Terence Crawford also in July.
Alvarez, who announced the fight on social media, was supposed to fight WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, who is widely believed to be the better of the Charlo twins. However, Jermall reportedly told Alvarez’s camp that he won’t be ready to fight by September, prompting the Mexican and PBC founder Al Haymon to pivot to Jermell instead.
Jermell, who will move up two weight classes to challenge Alvarez, is coming off a huge knockout victory over Brian Castano in May to unify the junior middleweight division. Alvarez, on the other hand, is also coming off a win, routing the unheralded John Ryder via unanimous decision in May.
The fight with Jermell will be Alvarez’s first under Haymon’s PBC.